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Monday, May 9, 2016

Watch: NC Gov. McCrory's presser on suit against fed demand that state not enforce HB2, antiLGBT law

Yesterday, HRC had this to say about Gov. McRory's complaints that the federal government wasn't giving his state enough time to comply with the Justice Department's demand that HB2 be repudiated and not enforced:

“If
HB2 was passed in a day, it can be repealed in a day, too. Pat
McCrory’s excuse that he needs more time to comply with the Department
of Justice after he rammed through and signed HB2 in the dark of night
in a matter of hours doesn’t hold water,” said HRC Communications
Director Jay Brown. “Pat McCrory even admitted on national television
that his biggest excuse for passing HB2 is a lie. He couldn’t cite a
single example of threats to public safety from non-discrimination
ordinances like the one in Charlotte. That’s because they do not exist.
HB2 is breaking federal civil rights laws and has put billions of
dollars in federal funding on the line. It must be fully repealed
immediately.” “Failing to meet the deadline set by the DOJ jeopardizes billions of
dollars in federal funding for North Carolina. This is not the time to
play political games. Governor McCrory needs to make the repeal of HB2
his number one priority before the deadline expires.” said Equality NC
Director of Advancement Matt Hirschy. “HB2 was passed in a under a
matter of 12 hours and was signed by Governor McCrory in the dead of the
night. After months of economic havoc, and now with billions of dollars
in federal funding hanging in the balance there is simply too much on
the line to delay a full repeal of HB2.”

Today, the Human Rights Campaign and Equality NC issued the following
statements in response to the news that Governor Pat McCrory has filed a
lawsuit defending his deeply discriminatory HB2. "North Carolina's HB2 law is blatantly unconstitutional and violates
federal civil rights law,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “The
Department of Justice has already been clear that it violates the civil
rights of North Carolinians. The idea Governor McCrory is going to waste
even more time and millions more taxpayer dollars defending it is
reckless and wrong. HB2 is a vile law attacking transgender North
Carolinians and leaves many more unprotected from discrimination. Rather
than defending it, Governor McCrory should be working with state
lawmakers to fix the mess he’s created." "The lawsuit that was filed today is just another tactic to delay a
decision and is a continued waste of taxpayer dollars when it is already
very clear that the only option is a full repeal of HB2,” said Equality
NC Executive Director Chris Sgro. “The 4th circuit court has already
provided guidance on this and continued litigation by the state is
simply wasteful. The state house and senate must fully repeal HB2 with
Governor McCrory's leadership."North Carolina has already lost more than a half billion dollars -
and counting - in economic activity just from companies canceling or
reconsidering plans to come to the state, and in cancelled conventions,
concerts, and other lost tourism dollars. That doesn’t even include
potential economic development that now just won’t happen in North
Carolina because of HB2’s discriminatory provisions, or the potential
catastrophic loss of federal funding for schools, roads, bridges, and
other essential services. The U.S. Department of Justice determined
North Carolina’s discriminatory HB 2 violates federal civil rights law
-- including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of
the Education Amendments Act of 1972 -- and gave McCrory and state
officials until today to address the situation “by confirming that the
State will not comply with or implement HB 2.” HB2 has eliminated existing municipal non-discrimination protections
for LGBT people and prevents such protections from being passed by
cities in the future. The legislation also forces transgender students
in public schools to use restrooms and other facilities inconsistent
with their gender identity, putting 4.5 billion dollars in federal
education funding at risk. It also compels the same type of
discrimination against transgender people to take place in
publicly-owned buildings, including in public universities, convention
centers, and airports. It also eliminated the ability of North
Carolinians to be able to sue if they experienced discrimination in the
workforce, including on the basis of race, religion, national origin and
sex. Lawmakers passed the legislation in a hurried, single-day
session, and Governor McCrory quickly signed it into law in the dead of
night. North Carolina has the unfortunate distinction of becoming the first
state in the country to enact a law attacking transgender students, even
after similar proposals were rejected across the country this year --
including a high-profile veto by the Republican Governor Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota.

Maynard (Bob "Gilligan's Island" Denver) slyly flashes a nipple to the CBS eye while trying to talk his best buddy Dobie Gillis (Dwayne Hick­man) into taking off all his clothes. Whoever said 1950s television was a vast waste­land obviously didn't know where to look.